[Liu Xicheng] Several theoretical issues on the protection of "intangible cultural heritage" in my country
Liu Xicheng: Male, born in February 1935.
People from Changle, Shandong.
Graduated from Peking University in 1957.
Member of the Communist Party of China.
Literary critic, folk literary scientist, cultural scholar.
Before retiring, he was a researcher at the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
He currently serves as a member of the National Expert Committee on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage and a member of the Expert Committee on the Folk Cultural Heritage Rescue Project of China Folk Literary and Art Association.
He is the author of monographs such as "On the Edge of the Literary World-Editor's Notes","Academic History of Folk Literature in China in the 20th Century" and "Intangible Cultural Heritage: Theory and Practice."
The "Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection" led by my country's government was launched in 2003 and was then called the "China Ethnic and Folk Culture Protection Project"; On March 26, 2005, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in my Country" and the annex "Interim Measures for the Application and Evaluation of Representative Works of National Intangible Cultural Heritage", which opened the application and review of representative works of my country's intangible cultural heritage.) Application and review of list items and launched a national survey of intangible cultural heritage; On February 8, 2006, the State Council issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage", declaring the second Saturday of June every year as my country's "Cultural Heritage Day".
This is unprecedented in the history of my country's political system and cultural evolution.
For the first time, it not only stipulates the responsibilities and tasks of government departments at all levels in protecting my country's cultural heritage, but also calls on all citizens to improve their "cultural awareness" and cherish and protect the cultural heritage passed down to us by our ancestors in a possible way; On February 25, 2011, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Intangible Cultural Heritage" and will be implemented on June 1.
Today, my country's "intangible cultural heritage" protection work has achieved proud results: as of June 2011, my country has reviewed and approved three batches of national-level "intangible cultural heritage" lists, with a total of 1219 items in the first batch: 518 items, the second batch of 657 items, and the third batch of 190 items); there are 1488 representative inheritors of various "intangible cultural heritage" projects, but the Ministry of Culture has no information yet released, but it is reported that there are 131 people); Eleven national-level cultural and ecological protection experimental zones have been established; as of 2011, a total of 29 projects in my country have been selected into the UNESCO "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity", and 7 projects have been selected into the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection".
But at the same time, my country's "intangible cultural heritage" protection work has also exposed problems such as "emphasizing declaration and neglecting protection","replacing protection with development" and lagging theoretical research.
The translated name in question: "Intangible Cultural Heritage"
The translation of "intangible cultural heritage" is inappropriate.
The word "heritage" can easily arouse associations.
Think of "intellectual property rights", think of property, think of property, think of items that can be exchanged for money..."Intangible cultural heritage" as a cultural tradition, refers to the "inheritance" of intangible culture.
The difference between the words "inheritance" and "heritage" may have different consequences in actual protection work.
The translation of the term "intangible cultural heritage" has been questioned.
Zheng Peikai, director and professor of the Center for China Traditional Culture at the City University of Hong Kong, once pointed out that the improper translation of "intangible cultural heritage" often causes misleading concepts and thinking directions, causing endless harm.
"The most inappropriate thing is that it emphasizes the 'heritage' of culture, and the word 'heritage' can easily arouse associations.
Think of 'intellectual property', think of property, think of objects that can be exchanged for money...' Intangible cultural heritage 'in English, and patrimoine culturel immateriel in French.
It mainly refers to the inheritance and transfer of culture, and does not easily trigger the concept of property." This point is reasonable and important, because "intangible cultural heritage", as a cultural tradition, is mainly living, inherited, and flowing, rather than "heritage" that has been completely dead, whether in terms of its meaning or in terms of its meaning, it refers to the "inheritance" of intangible culture.
The difference between the words "inheritance" and "heritage" may have different consequences in actual protection work.
Look at the actual situation.
If we say that some traditional handicrafts have gradually declined or even gradually disappeared due to the development of the times, scientific progress, changes in life needs and changes in aesthetic standards, etc., intangible culture in other fields such as the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival still has great vitality.
In other words, not all intangible culture is in a "heritage" state.
To understand the "inheritance" nature of "intangible culture" rather than the "heritage" nature, we must start from the nature and definition of "culture".
Because "culture" is the common creation of a group, a ethnic group or a nation, and is the concept and behavior it shares in common.
Generally speaking, it is learned, integrated, passed down and continued through word of mouth, and its form is reflected in two major categories: material and non-material.
If culture in material form is a frozen cultural style engraved with certain characteristics of the times, then culture in intangible form is mobile, in the process of development and change, and in a state of inheritance.
If "intangible culture" is understood as "heritage", that is to say, we regard it as a culture of the past or has been solidified, then it is obviously different from the nature and characteristics of what we call "intangible culture" today.
The word "heritage" can easily put "inheritance" aside.
Scholars 'worries are not unreasonable.
Some development-style "protection" tendencies in various places also prove that their worries have unfortunately been right.
Since the publication of the first and second batches of national directories, and even the third batch of directories, cultural authorities, project application entities and protection units in some places have not conscientiously implemented the protection measures promised at the time of application.
Instead, driven by interests and political achievements, they have "emphasized declaration and ignored protection".
Development-style "protection" in the name of protection and economic development, but in fact incidents that undermine protection have emerged one after another.
The intervention of developers may provide certain funds for the government's protection, but their starting point and purpose are to make money and make greater profits.
Although performance performances that appear in some places cannot be denied all, they are by no means the right way to protect them.
According to what the author has seen, there are generally two situations in this kind of performance: one is that some literary and art units or companies draw out some inheritors of folk art in rural areas-singers or dancers in the name of "original ecology", transform and "improve" the programs they sing and perform, and let them perform on the big stage in the city; the other is that villages regard their own folk literature and art as commodities, separate them from their living environment and perform in order to attract tourists.
Compared with the two situations, in the latter case, although the villagers 'folk art has been divorced from their living environment and its social functions have also encountered alienation, its form as folk art has not been greatly damaged.
The former is completely divorced from the people's daily life and cultural ecology, losing the simplicity of folk art to varying degrees, and completely turning into a commodity.
We have seen more than once in this kind of commercial and non-commercial performances that in order to please the organizers and please the audience,"intangible cultural heritage" inheritors from the grassroots often dress up in fancy clothes and make up, breaking away from and cutting off their own nation's cultural traditions, and even under the misguidance of the choreographer, under the temptation of "elegance" and "fashion", they perform various performances that distort and undermine the authenticity of national culture, so that the nation and region can cultivate intangible cultural heritage treasures.
Lost in the wave of popularization, vulgarization, and convergence.
Of course, all of these cannot be counted into the translation of "heritage", but the "mandatory" retreat in the meaning of "inheritance" has led to widespread misdirection in the direction of protection, which is increasingly distant from the original intention of the government and academic circles to protect intangible cultural heritage, but it is an undeniable disease of the times that urgently needs heavy medicine.
After the implementation of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Law of the People's Republic of China on June 1, 2011, the Ministry of Culture of China issued a notice on September 8, 2011, announcing the establishment of a warning and withdrawal mechanism for the national-level" intangible cultural heritage "list.
For more than half a year, we have not heard any information on warnings or withdrawals from projects that violate the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Law".
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture, as the host of "intangible cultural heritage" declarations and the manager of protection, is also responsible for law enforcement, and has two responsibilities.
This management system may have something worth pondering.
Tujia waving dance
China's intangible cultural heritage is the most important foundation for "Chinese studies"
The national spirit of the Chinese nation, or the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation, is mainly contained and reflected in the China intangible cultural heritage and folk culture passed down and continued from generation to generation by the general public through oral and spiritual teachings, rather than in the theory of a certain school.
During and later on the May 4th New Culture Movement, scholars proposed the concept that China culture is composed of "sages and sages" and "popular culture." The author calls this the "dualism" of culture.
The proposal of the "dualism theory" of China culture was compatible with the social system after the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the monarchy, and was gradually approved and accepted by politicians.
However, the "dualism theory" does not seem to have been universally recognized in China's academic circles.
Oral culture created and enjoyed by the lower-class people, especially farmers, including folk culture or intangible cultural heritage, has never had a place in some academic works on culture.
In 1956, American anthropologist Robert Redfield proposed the cultural analysis concepts of "big traditions" and "small traditions" in his book "Farmers 'Society and Culture".
His "big tradition" refers to the culture represented by the urban-centered upper-class people and intellectuals who account for a minority in society;"small tradition" refers to the culture represented by the farmers who make up the majority in rural areas.
This is also a concept about the dual structure of national culture.
Redfield's theory is very suitable for the local social and cultural situation of China, so it was quickly echoed by China's young cultural and anthropological circles.
However, it has been slightly transformed, using "big traditions" and "small traditions" as symbols of elite culture and mass culture, or dividing China's cultural traditions into two categories: "big traditions" carried by words and "small traditions" carried by mouth and heart based teaching.
According to this dual structure theory, intangible cultural heritage naturally belongs to a "small tradition".
This kind of thinking thread, especially in an era of surging consciousness crisis, is neither suitable for the preservation of traditional culture and art, nor for the development of diverse folk culture.
In the 100 years of the 20th century, the destruction of intangible culture by war, political intervention, economic change, and Confucian tradition was unprecedented.
They referred to folk culture as feudal superstition and filthy dross, the root cause of China's backwardness, and it was important to cut off and eliminate this cultural tradition rooted in civil society.
The culture with the Confucian tradition as its core is called the mainstream culture by Chinese scholars.
However, intellectuals who are deeply influenced and shaped by Confucian culture despise folk culture or intangible cultural heritage, and the old Tianqiao style urban entertainment space.
Even some enlightened and civilian-minded intellectuals have more or less shown the habit of arbitrarily tampering with folk works.
Many of the folk works that are written through their hands have been tampered with.
Not only is the narrative language not the people's, but also the ideas that do not belong to the lower classes of the people have been added, changing the original form inherent in intangible cultural heritage and distorting it.
Related to this theory of "big traditions" and "small traditions" is the "New Chinese Studies".
New scholars regard the "Last Words of Ancient Sages" as the main research and interpretation of Chinese studies and the spirit of national culture, regard the "quintessence of Chinese culture" written in writing as the basic principles of Chinese studies, and regard the oral and spiritual teachings of the whole nation, which should be passed down from generation to generation, as the basis of Chinese studies.
Intangible cultural heritage is despised and rejected.
During his lifetime, Mr.
Ji Xianlin once wrote an article saying that "national studies" should be "great national studies".
He was insightful, targeted at the shortcomings of the times, and was very targeted.
In fact, Mr.
Ji is not the first person to say this.
Many masters have said it in the past.
For example, more than 80 years ago, Mr.
Gu Jiegang, who was then working in the School of Chinese Studies at the Graduate Institute of Peking University, also said these words in Peking University's "School Weekly·1926 Commentary":"What is Chinese Studies? It is the history of China and part of China in historical science.
Studying Chinese studies is part of studying China in historical science, which is also the use of scientific methods to study China's history.
If scientists can only study nature and technology, but not society and history, then the field of science is too small, the tricks of science are too low, and this person's vision is too narrow." At that time, the School of Guoxue of Peking University wanted to suspend the publication of "Song Songs" and establish Peking University's "Guoxue Men Weekly" was to turn "Guoxue Men Weekly" into a common publication of the Peking University Ballads Research Society, Customs Research Society and Dialect Research Society.
The purpose of Gu Jiegang's "Shikanci" is to emphasize that the study of folk songs and customs is the proper meaning of the topic of Guoxue.
Nowadays, some new Chinese scholars use Confucian thoughts as the flaunt and summarize Chinese traditional culture with Confucian thoughts as the core.
They are trying their best to return to what Mr.
Gu called "living in old piles of paper" and refuse to conduct research on the "big Chinese studies" paradigm of "inspecting that there are still objects beyond the old piles of paper." They despise or even reject every piece of "grassroots" culture preserved in the people.
These "small traditions" that are outside the "mainstream culture" that the "new national studies" call the "big traditions" are the folk culture or intangible culture that we now advocate passed down from mouth to heart and from generation to generation.
Cultural heritage is the vulnerable culture that needs to be protected urgently in the trend of cultural diversity that is clamoring for protection around the world.
In fact, as long as scholars go deep into civil society, it is not difficult for them to discover that the so-called "small traditions" are not small.
Among the people, we can see that in the vast territory that accounts for a large proportion of China and among the large population, especially those remote areas or the "old, young and border" areas often mentioned in documents, the intangible cultural heritage that some scholars call a "small tradition" is a truly "big tradition."
Theoretically speaking, intangible cultural heritage is a variety of manifestations of culture passed down from generation to generation by the people through oral transmission and heart-to-heart transmission and is closely related to people's lives.
This culture infiltrates the world outlook, social ideals and aspirations of people in different eras, carries the wisdom of the people and human civilization, and embodies the national spirit, way of thinking and cultural traditions of the Chinese nation.
Intangible cultural heritage that exists and develops in different forms is the "gene bank" of Chinese culture and an important raw material for studying mankind and society, and for studying the development of the people's historical destiny and world outlook.
It can provide people of all ethnic groups with valuable life experience accumulated from generation to generation; it can provide rich and colorful innovative resources of culture, art, science and technology; it can inspire future generations to build a more magnificent artistic palace on the shoulders of their predecessors.
It should also be particularly emphasized that the intangible cultural heritage of the Chinese nation is an important representative and embodiment of the spirit of the Chinese nation.
The upper culture with Confucianism as the core and the lower culture created and enjoyed by ordinary people have always been in a state of confrontation and integration.
However, to build a complete and scientific Chinese culture, these two cultures must be effectively integrated.I believe that "harmony" or "moderation" is not the spirit of the Chinese nation or the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation in the hearts of hundreds of millions of people, but the consciousness of "self-improvement" and "endless life" that are everywhere in folk culture is the national spirit or cultural spirit of the Chinese nation.
The issue of China's intangible cultural heritage and the spirit of the Chinese nation is still a big issue to be discussed on a special topic.
However, what is certain is that China's intangible cultural heritage is the most important foundation for "Chinese studies".
The national spirit of the Chinese nation or the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation is mainly contained and reflected in the way the general public teaches it orally and spiritually.
In China's intangible cultural heritage (folk culture) passed down and continued from generation to generation, rather than in the doctrine of a certain school.
Hejiaying Chang 'an Drum Music
Cultural area, cultural circle, cultural enclave
The "cultural complex" of each "cultural region" in China includes both upper-class culture and folk culture passed down by the people.
The so-called "cultural circle" refers to the division of cultural circles according to a certain number of specific cultural characteristics.
The cultural circle formed around a certain intangible cultural heritage project may have conflicts with the administrative district.
Research on the problem of "cultural enclaves" formed by adherents, cultural rupture caused by war, military disasters, natural disasters, or ethnic migration is very useful for the integration and inheritance of China culture and for solving many mysteries of Chinese culture.
Cultural District
China is a multi-ethnic community with a vast territory, a long history and diverse cultures.
In ancient history, there were disputes and gatherings between several ethnic groups or tribal groups.
Historian Xu Xusheng said that the Chinese nation is composed of three ethnic groups, namely the Huaxia Group, the Dongyi Ethnic Group and the Miaoman Ethnic Group.
"These three groups all made decent contributions to ancient culture.
The interactions among them are quite frequent, starting with competition and then mutual love; later, they compete and mutual love, and each other intertwined, which comes down to complete assimilation." Due to disputes and wars between ethnic and tribal groups, cities and land were attacked, countries were destroyed and people were relocated.
Different cultures frequently blended and assimilated to form a common culture.
Under the common culture, some so-called "sub-ethnic" cultures and local cultures were retained, thus developing into the regional cultures that we now recognize as Qilu culture, Wuyue culture, Yanzhao culture, Sanqin culture, Sanjin culture, Jingchu culture, Bayu culture and other regional cultures.
Dr.
Boas, an American critic also known as the American Historical School, proposed the concept of a "cultural area".
When Dr.
Alexander Goldenweser explained the meaning of Boas's "cultural area" in his book "A History of Social Sciences", he said: "The concept of a cultural area in Boas, on the one hand, is inherently objective and psychologically subjective.
The so-called objective is because the cultural complex in each region is indeed different from another region.
The so-called psychological subjective concept is due to the uniqueness of the relationship between the cultural characteristics of each part in each region."
Our country's regional culture is similar to what Boas called "cultural regions".
Although the cultural connections between various groups in our country's history and relevant regions are remote, the documentary records appear scattered, and there is a lack of such "precise investigation" as Boas said, the uniqueness of the "cultural complex" that constitutes each "cultural region" is very obvious.
Different from the surveys conducted by Western anthropology in some primitive ethnic groups, the culture of various "cultural regions" in China has been relatively fully developed.
The "cultural complex" in each region includes both upper-level culture, i.e.
elite culture, and folk culture or intangible cultural heritage inherited by the people.
Since entering modern society, the speed of blending of different cultures has intensified, and the phenomenon of cultural convergence has become increasingly obvious.
However, as long as you observe and study carefully, you will find that the differences between folk culture or intangible cultural heritage in different regions, especially Boas mentioned by psychological factors, still become a strong support for the uniqueness of their respective cultures, that is to say, their "cultural uniqueness" is still enough to make a difference.
cultural circle
In the early years of the 20th century, in Western cultural studies, evolutionists and propagationists emerged one after another, and then functionalists and critics emerged.
The Bohua faction is divided into two groups: one is the German faction and the other is the British faction.
Leo Frobenius (1873-1938) of the German school proposed a concept called "cultural circle"(Kulurkreis), and later, Fritz Graebner (1877-1934) systematically discussed and developed the "cultural circle".
The so-called "cultural circle" refers to the division of cultural circles based on a certain number of specific cultural characteristics (5 to 20).
As early as the 1920s, the theory of "cultural circle" had been introduced from the West to China.
Gu Jiegang's research on the story of Meng Jiangnu and Wu Ge, Dong Zuobin's research on "Seeing Her", and Lou Zikuang's research on "Moonlight" use important achievements of cultural circle theory, even if not under the direct guidance of cultural circle theory, and enrich this theory put forward by foreigners with the academic practice of China.
In the 1980s, the collection and research of folk literature entered an unprecedented period of prosperity, and the "cultural circle" theory once again entered the field of folk literature or folk culture research in China.
In the study of folk literature, the "cultural circle" theory and the accumulated experience of our scholars not only provide researchers with a new perspective but also enrich our theoretical arsenal.
The prototype of a certain folk story will always take root and undergo various mutations in its circulation in different places.
The places where these different variants are located constitute the story circle of the story, providing us with comparative geographical and historical research possibilities.
The same goes for folk dance, folk music, and folk art.
Cultural circles and administrative divisions
As mentioned above, the spread, prosperity and decline of culture are subject to the own laws of cultural development.
A cultural phenomenon, such as a certain project of intangible cultural heritage, has been passed down from generation to generation through the people for a long time.
Although it will undergo certain mutations in inheritance and transmission, it still generally maintains the basic elements of the prototype and may be continuously recognized by the people in a small area, thus forming a cultural circle with the prototype of this project.
The conditions for forming a cultural circle generally depend on a common language, common customs, and common way of life.
The determination and change of administrative divisions are mainly the jurisdiction determined by the government power agencies based on the needs of exercising power and the layout of economic development.
The cultural circle formed around a certain intangible cultural heritage project may spread across two or even three or more administrative divisions.
Therefore, there is a contradiction between the cultural circle and the administrative district.
The emergence of this contradiction, in essence, is caused by the strong separation of the integrity of a certain culture by administrative divisions.
Such problems have also been encountered in my country's current intangible cultural heritage protection projects.
Yu County, under the jurisdiction of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province in northern Beijing, is a major paper-cutting county with one of the intangible cultural heritages.
Since the 1980s, the author has had a lot of interactions with Gao Dianliang, a young paper-cutting artist in Shuhou Village, Yu County.
He introduced him to bring his paper-cutting to Beijing to hold an exhibition in Zizhuyuan Park, and also helped him exhibit it in People's Park in Shiyan City, Hubei Province.
Therefore, I have some understanding of the characteristics of paper-cutting in Yu County.
In October 2003, the author was invited to Yu County to participate in the paper-cutting integration conference hosted by the China Folk Literary and Art Association.
When he heard people in Hebei introduce the style and characteristics of Yu County paper-cutting that belonged to Yanzhao culture, he disagreed.
When expressing his opinion, the author believes that the content of Yu County paper-cutting is mainly based on opera characters), the image composition and engraving method are not scissors paper-cutting), and the style should be an extension of northern Shanxi culture rather than Yanzhao culture.
Describing Yu County paper-cutting as Yanzhao culture is influenced by administrative divisions and should be a misunderstanding of cultural understanding.
Although Yu County is affiliated to Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province in terms of administrative divisions, it is adjacent to Datong in Shanxi to the west.
The residents 'language, customs and lifestyle are similar to Datong in northern Shanxi.
They are deeply influenced by northern Shanxi culture, or they are simply a branch of northern Shanxi culture.
Gu Jiegang encountered the same problem when editing "Wu Ge Jia Ji".
Shen Jianshi once objected to Gu Jiegang's naming of "Wu Ge", believing that the geographical area of Wu was unclear and that it was a folk song of Suzhou, and the title of "Wu Ji Lu" seemed to be general.
But Gu did not adopt the advice of his teacher Shen Jianshi and insisted on using "Wu Ge".
He said: "The reason why I wrote this at that time was because I used the allusions of 'Wu Wei Cai Ou' in Chu Ci.
Now I feel that I can use the allusions, but there is no way to change the word Wu yet.
So, just because these songs weren't just collected from Suzhou.' The word 'Suzhou' is now only a city name in Wu County and cannot cover other cities and townships.
If I title 'Wu County', I can't finish it, because my grandmother once lived in Dangkou, which belongs to Wuxi County; my wife is from Luzhi, and half of Luzhi belongs to Wu County and half of Luzhi belongs to Kunshan County.
Moreover, I hope that people near Wu County will give me more songs than I want to use the name of Wu County to define my own.
The old moms and maids who work in Suzhou are not only rural people in Wu County.
They provide me with as many opportunities as possible to sing songs, but I refuse to use Wu County to stop them.
I always feel that the people living along Taihu Lake should not be separated in terms of customs, life, or speech.
Although these places are divided into political areas, they are still one.
Therefore, we can follow the old vague name of 'Wu' and seek the songs of the people along Taihu Lake." Gu Jiegang adopted the name "Wu Ge" after careful weighing.
The criterion for his naming was not only to speak Wu dialect, but to break political divisions and follow the natural distribution of culture, that is, the customs and lifestyles of the people living along Taihu Lake are all the same in terms of language and customs.
Yongning Zhuang Ba Yin
"Cultural enclave"
"Cultural enclave" was something I discovered a few years ago.
I went to Anshun area in Guizhou to visit and learn about the "Tunpu Culture" there.
"Tunpu" was a border guard trip sent by the emperor of the Central Plains in the Ming Dynasty to border areas to block Yunnan.
They and their families were stranded there and never returned to the mainland.
They lived on mountains or mountainsides and were good at building stone houses because they wanted to resist the enemy and built towers with bullet holes on the top of the mountain.
They still wear the clothes of the ancient Han people and do not intermarry with local ethnic minorities.
In other words, they have lived in the encirclement of ethnic minority areas for hundreds of years, but they retain their own living customs, clothes, and etiquette, like an "enclave" separated from their native land.
In 2002, young scholars Yan Da and Gao Song wrote a book "Six Hundred Years of Tunpu-A Chronicle of the Remnants of the Ming Dynasty" and asked me to write a preface to it.
I wrote the following words in front of their book: "There are many immigration issues in history, especially those of the Remnants, and research in this area has attracted attention.
However, from a cultural perspective, the issue of cultural 'enclaves' formed by adherents, the issue of cultural rupture caused by war, military disasters, natural disasters, or ethnic migration has not attracted the attention that the academic community deserves.
Such research is naturally very useful for the integration and inheritance of China culture and for solving many mysteries of Chinese culture."
Mangkang Xianzi, Chongqing Liangping New Year pictures, making Taishan shadow puppet show in performance
The decline trend of "intangible cultural heritage"
The decline of agricultural civilization production methods and the decline of patriarchal social families and human relations, the historic changes in rural settlements and their interpersonal relationships, the strong influence of foreign cultures, changes in modern lifestyles and concepts of life, and the aging of inheritors and lack of successors have caused the overall decline of "intangible cultural heritage".
There are many and complex reasons leading to the gradual decline of intangible cultural heritage, but the author believes that the most important ones are the following:
1)The decline of agricultural civilization and the decline of family and human relations in patriarchal society
The decline of agricultural civilization production methods, including hunting economy, and the decline of patriarchal social families and human relations are the fundamental reasons for the decline of intangible cultural heritage.
Folk culture and intangible cultural heritage) originated in prehistoric times, but its large-scale production and prosperity occurred in the farming era.
The rapid development of modernization has brought self-sufficient agriculture to the market, sounding the death knell of primitive and self-sufficient farming civilization.
At the same time, relying on farming conditions and the corresponding patriarchal social family system, and the concepts of human ethics and values in the field of superstructure have gradually been diluted or even replaced by new production relations, social relations, and concepts.
The foundation for the survival, dissemination, and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage has gradually become very fragile, gradually withdrawing from the lower-level people and the main inheritors of intangible cultural heritage-it can even be said that the lives of farmers have gradually been destroyed or forgotten.
2)Rural settlements and their interpersonal relationships have undergone historic changes
Rural settlements are an important carrier for the inheritance and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage.
Villages have undergone earth-shaking historic changes since the 1990s.
The impact of the modernization process on rural areas is reflected in: first, a large number of young and middle-aged people go out to work to make a living, leaving only the elderly, women and children in the village.
The rural population structure has undergone drastic changes, and the audience for inheritance of intangible cultural heritage has dropped sharply.
Second, the structure of patriarchal families and the inheritance of life etiquette and customs have undergone fundamental changes.
This change has fundamentally shaken or subverted the traditional agricultural society and patriarchal family etiquette and customs systems; Third, the popularization of television and telephone, and the speed and diversity of information have changed young people's value orientation, knowledge structure, and entertainment interests.
Young people would rather sit in front of the TV and watch TV programs than listen to stories told by grandma.
They are unwilling to participate in the ritual dance of grandma and grandma.
Coupled with the cultural conservatism and regional closure of intangible cultural heritage, inheritors are not satisfied with economic benefits, thus causing a large number of people to lose interest in inheritance.
3)The powerful influence of foreign culture
The strong influence of foreign culture has greatly accelerated the pace of reconstruction of national culture, especially in some ethnic areas.
Foreign cultures include both the cultures of neighboring and mixed Han and other brother nations, as well as foreign cultures.
The most powerful is American culture).
The influence of foreign cultures has greatly weakened the original culture with intangible cultural heritage as the main body.
Under the conditions of weakening and sacrificing the intangible cultural heritage of the nation or region, a multicultural pattern has been formed.
Taking Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province as an example, anthropologist Ma Guoqing wrote: "Compared with the folk customs of the three major ethnic groups of Guangfu, Chaoshan and Hakka, Zhanjiang has many unique places.
In terms of ethnic relations and cultural acculturation, the main residents of modern Zhanjiang are Han nationality, but in history, Zhanjiang belongs to an ethnic minority area.
In the long-term historical development process, Han nationality and various ethnic cultures have been acculturated in exchanges.
Today, the region centered on Zhanjiang has formed a situation where diverse ethnic cultures blend."
4)Changes in modern lifestyles and concepts of life
The main creators, inheritors and recipients of intangible cultural heritage are in the vast rural areas.The rural population is currently declining sharply.
According to statistics released by China Academy of Social Sciences, the urban population has reached half.) With the changes in rural residents 'lifestyles, concepts of life, aesthetic concepts, knowledge structures and information sources, the traditional intangible cultural heritage they are familiar with, such as folk stories, small plays performed by the Caotai team, etc., dance minority areas where all the people participate, can no longer or more unable to meet their needs.
Or it is no longer needed for their spiritual life today.
As a result, the scope of dissemination of intangible cultural heritage has shrunk sharply and the audience has shrunk.
It is undoubtedly the enemy of the inheritance and development of "intangible cultural heritage".
5)The inheritors are aging, and there are no successors to the inheritance
Wise people who hold intangible cultural heritage such as ethnic minority village elders, teachers, etc.) and inheritors die naturally with age, making the inheritance and continuation of intangible cultural heritage lacking successors.
Wang Anjiang, the representative inheritor of "Folk Literature·Ancient Miao Songs", passed away on June 25, 2010, Wei Xiande, the representative inheritor of "Folk Literature·Zouma Town Folk Stories", passed away on April 15, 2009,"Folk Literature·Tan Zhenshan, the inheritor of Tan Zhenshan Folk Stories", passed away on April 16, 2011, and Yang Zaixian, the representative inheritor of "Folk Dance·Flower Drum Lantern", passed away on September 19, 2010.
Cai Dejin, the representative inheritor of "Traditional Drama·Xinchang Tune", passed away on June 15, 2008, Chen Anye, the representative inheritor of "Traditional Drama·Sichuan Opera", passed away on November 26, 2007, and Zhou Shaolin, the representative inheritor of "Traditional Drama·Peking Opera", passed away on December 29, 2010, and Jiang Yufang, the representative inheritor of "Traditional Drama·Su Opera", passed away in January 2008.
Wang Yingrong, the representative inheritor of "Traditional Drama·Qiong Opera", passed away on July 3, 2011, Li Xiuyuan, the representative inheritor of "Quyi·Northeast Errenzhuan", passed away in March 2008, and the representative inheritor of "Quyi·Xiaorehun" An Zhongwen passed away in 2007, and Lausser, the representative inheritor of "Quyi·Uliger", passed away on July 4, 2010.
Zhang Fo, the representative inheritor of "Folk Art·Thousand Corner Lantern", passed away on May 14, 2009...
Data in recent years show that many famous national-level representative inheritors have passed away, making the "intangible cultural heritage" projects they represent endangered or become a swan song, threatening the sustainable development of national intangible cultural heritage projects, and many oral traditions or skills have disappeared before they can be taught.
China has entered an aging society.
Assuming that more inheritors who remember and master a certain type of intangible cultural heritage were 20 years old when the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, they are already over 80 years old by now.
The natural death of the inheritor is inevitable.
Ecological protection and overall protection are the ideals of government departments and scholars.
However, the decline trend of intangible cultural heritage should be said to be unstoppable.
At least in the field of folk literature and artistic performance, inheritance has encountered great difficulties.
Changes in modern lifestyles, life concepts, belief trends, information sources, etc.
have made young people no longer like their predecessors, listening to folk stories and watching small plays performed by the Caotai team.
Even if traditional intangible cultural heritage projects continue, such as listening to folk stories and performing art projects, the trend of convergence and simplification is increasing day by day.
We feel so sad that we can no longer go back to the era of the "Top Ten Literary and Art Collections" in the 1980s and 1990s.
Facts teach us to rescue it quickly and use the pens and modern tools in our hands to record all intangible cultural heritage that can be recorded, so that it can pass on to future generations as a "second life".
This is undoubtedly one of the responsibilities of "intangible cultural heritage" theoretical workers.